Pedestrians mill around the Metropolitan Opera house at Lincoln Center in New York earlier this month.

Associated Press

The Metropolitan Opera has again extended its lockout deadline, postponing it by another week as an independent financial analyst completes his review of the company’s books, the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said.

The new deadline is Sunday night.

The announcement Monday marked a third reprieve for singers, musicians, stagehands and other union members facing a threatened lockout. Contracts for 15 of the company’s 16 unions expired on July 31.

A WSJ analysis of box-office data from the Metropolitan Opera shows new productions spearheaded by general manager Peter Gelb have had mixed success. Here are a few numbers from the 2012-2013 season that illustrate the Met’s struggle to maximize its revenue as its audience declined. Read More »

Related News:

The Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra union has appealed directly to board members in a letter arguing that productions commissioned by general manager Peter Gelb are causing a drag at the box office because, the union says, they don’t sell well as revivals.

The union, American Federation of Musicians Local 802, prepared an analysis of the company’s ticket sales based on data the Met turned over in contract negotiations. Mr. Gelb has said he is seeking to cut union members’ pay by 16% amid declining ticket sales, a depleted endowment and growing expenses.

“The assertions in the 802 letter are inaccurate from beginning to end,” said Met spokesman Sam Neuman, adding that the union’s letter presented a “biased assessment of the Met’s recent artistic programming.” Read More »

John Adams’s “The Death of Klinghoffer” has its Met premiere in October 2014.

Richard Hubert Smith/English National Opera

The Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday canceled its plans for a live, global broadcast of next season’s “The Death of Klinghoffer,” amid concerns that it could fan anti-Semitism.

The company’s general manager, Peter Gelb, said Tuesday that he had received hundreds of emails over the past 10 days calling on him to cancel the transmission of the controversial opera by American composer John Adams. “The Death of Klinghoffer” depicts a 1985 cruise-ship hijacking and the murder of a Jewish passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, by Palestinian terrorists.

Mr. Gelb said he didn’t believe the 1991 opera was anti-Semitic but added that he was aware of “great concern, which I think is justified,” about “anything that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as pro-terrorist.”

Matthias Goerne, center, has a last-minute costume fitting for his performance Thursday night in the title role of Berg’s “Wozzeck” at the Metropolitan Opera. Also pictured: staff tailors Bryant Hoven, right, and Bruce Manilla.

Jonathan Tichler/Metropolitan Opera

When the Metropolitan Opera’s production of “Wozzeck” opens tonight, it will be without the Wozzeck it originally cast.

Thomas Hampson, the baritone slated to make his debut in the role, fell ill, the opera house said Thursday, hours before the opening.

While the Met regularly arranges for singers to serve as understudies for major roles, it was able to snap up some loose star power: German singer Matthias Goerne, who has performed “Wozzeck” with the Royal Opera and Vienna State Opera, and who happened to be in town for concerts at Carnegie Hall.

The Met approached Mr. Goerne on Wednesday, and he considered it overnight, according to the Met, who said he was “en route” to the opera house.

Related News:

The Metropolitan Opera House located in Lincoln Center is lit at dusk in November.

Associated Press

The Metropolitan Opera’s $311 million budget fell short by $2.8 million last year, after a ticket price hike backfired and caused attendance to drop, according to a newly released financial disclosure document.

Last February Met officials announced a reversal of the price increase, acknowledging that their foray into dynamic pricing had had unintended consequences. The financial disclosure, filed as part of the requirements of a $100 million bond offered in 2013, shows that average attendance fell to 79% of the opera house’s capacity – even lower than officials projected last February.

Thousands of people turned out for an open-air production of The Metropolitan Opera’s season-opening performance Eugene Onegin. There were 2,000 seats set up at Lincoln Center for the showing, and 1,500 at Times Square. Read More »